A Calvary Coach bus carrying Pennsylvania high school students who had been touring Harvard University crashed Saturday night as it attempted to drive under an overpass in Boston and left dozens of passengers injured, four seriously, according to authorities.
The crash occurred after the bus hit the Western Avenue Bridge while traveling east on Soldiers Field Road around 7:34 p.m., authorities said. Firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, and State Police flocked to the scene to free passengers through the roof of the crumpled bus.
Comments
Ah-duh.
To give the driver the benefit of the doubt - the signage on our roads is less than stellar. For an out-of-towner, I find it completely believable that he did not see the height restriction sign.
I agree. The whole Soldier's Field Road/Storrow Drive roadway system is a trap for overheight vehicles in that it's a major road artery put in an important place and what out of towner would believe we would put a road solely for low-height passenger vehicles (cars) there? Yes, there are warning signs, and some fairly prominent ones too at other entry points, but in general, this low-clearance roadway is an accident waiting to happen, as we see every so often. I'm 50 and have lived in the Boston area all my life, but why this river side road was built this way still puzzles me. Yes, it was built as a kind of parkway road, originally but given what an important throughfare it is, I think the bridge clearances should have been lifted years ago.
I feel so badly for the driver and passengers. 'Hope everyone heals up well.
Regarding my previous comment - please excuse the poor punctutation (lack of hyphens and misplaced comma) in the last part of the first paragraph. I wish the Globe's website software allowed editing after the fact.
Imagine that, a driver in Massachusetts did not see a road sign. They also don't see merge signs or speed limits (driving 40 in a 50 zone for example) either.
I agree with Stephen B. This stretch of highway - Soldier's Field Road and Storrow Drive - is absurdly dangerous. I used to commute to Brookline every day and would often see 18-wheelers pulled into tournouts, waiting for the Staties to come protect them as they backed up to the Mass Pike exit. Once I actually saw this happening. I heard once that this was an everyday occurrence.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The insanity here is not making the necessary change: raising the bridges. Sure, it will cost money, but our roadway - and our people - will be safer. I mourn this bus accident and the injuries to its chlldren passengers. I hope none die, but in my 30+ years living here, I've seen over and over that officials don't make changes to dangerous road situations until someone dies.
I, for one, am forwarding my comments to Mayor Menino.
could also be that the out of town bus driver punched the route into a gps device-it routed him onto Storrow Drive - and off he went - assuming it was ok, as others have said - the signage is less than clear -usually it is a truck stuck in a tunnel.